Undercurrent: The Fade
LOGLINE:
After a young police officer with a rare psychological profile is recruited to go deep undercover in the 1990s Brisbane drug trade, his talent for deception becomes the very thing that erases the man he used to be.
SYNOPSIS:
A young undercover officer, Jack, is given a new identity: Michael Bates, small-time dealer with ambitions. His assignment is simple on paper, pose as the gay boyfriend of Rita, a trans informant with deep connections to Brisbane's 1995 drug scene, and work his way up the supply chain.
In Rita's apartment, Jack is transformed. She dresses him, corrects him, builds their cover story, and teaches him how to perform the role convincingly. This isn't just a costume change, it's an identity shift. Rita owns the room, and Jack begins to realise he's not running this operation. She is.
At Eye Candy strip club, the performance is tested. A dancer's flirtation exposes Jack's slip, a physical response that threatens to blow the cover. Rita saves him, but the moment is a warning: the mask is harder to hold than he thought. When Alfonse, a mid-level supplier, arrives to size up the new player, Jack passes the test. But only because Rita controls the introduction, reminds him of the power dynamic, and anchors him in the lie.
Back at the safe house, Jack's handler Cass asks a simple question: "You alright?" His answer reveals the cost. He doesn't know what he's faking anymore. The switch between Jack and Michael is gone. It's a fade now, and the edges are blurring.
Cass names what's happening to him. She calls him 'Michael' deliberately and knowingly and warns him to watch the edges. Jack nods. But there's no smile this time. The transformation has already begun.
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Jason SomervilleWriter
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Project Type:Short Script
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Genres:crime, Thriller, Drama
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Number of Pages:9
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Language:English
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First-time Screenwriter:No
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Student Project:No
Jason Somerville is an Australian screenwriter, director, producer, and author whose work explores perception, identity, and the quiet damage caused by the roles people adopt to survive. Drawing on his varied life experience across policing, including undercover and uniform roles in high-crime, low-socioeconomic environments; as a tour leader across Asia, South America and Europe; and as a recruitment consultant working with everyday people, his writing leans towards implication rather than explanation, focusing on psychological tension and the moment reality begins to fracture.
His storytelling focuses on the silences left unsaid. Behaviour, silence, and detail carry more weight than the plot. Rather than driving towards spectacle, his work sits in an uncomfortable space where truth surfaces slowly and often too late.
Working across psychological thriller, domestic noir, and social drama, he places characters in contained environments where performance and reality begin to blur. His stories are intimate and high-stakes, grounded in the moment a person realises they have already crossed a line and is forced to face the cost of being who they have become.
I spent fourteen years in the Queensland Police Service, two of them deep undercover in the Brisbane drug scene. This project is a visceral, first-hand account of the "Michael Bates" identity—a role that was a necessary infection for survival, but nearly cost me my self.
